My Last word for 2017

— 30th December 2017

As we come to the end of the year, I wish to thank all my readers for keeping pace with this column. I wish every one of us a prosperous 2018.

I am also taking these last days of 2017 to reflect on what I consider a challenging year; a year that is not ending well with Nigerians spending their entire Christmasat petrol stations while the authorities quibble.

I also reflect on how the IPOB quest for justice and equity was mismanaged and why those that goaded Nnamdi Kanu are not asking the right questions from the right people concerning his disappearance. Is NK dead or alive?

The year 2017 is ending not without controversy over the President’s age which he said he thought was 74 but was told it’s 75. His critics insist he is between 84 and 85 years.

I also reflect on the documentary ‘The human side of Buhari’ which I think is a bad PR job. To document ‘the human side’ of anyone predisposes there is an inhuman side considering words and their opposite meanings.

Why must Nigerians wear prescription glasses to see the leader’s human side when they can feel it even if they were as blind as Steve Wonder?

The last but not the least in my reflection is the alleged conspiracy against Innoson Motors by GTBank with EFCC acting as a willing agent. Is the Blackman truly stupid?

Fellow citizens, when fire is burning over your roof, you must reach a decision either to fetch water and put out the fire or resign to fate and watch the fire burn.

The travail of Innoson, is one of such moments when we as a people must organize and mobilize against the Satan holding us down. We must be resolute in our demand for respect, justice and recognition from Pharaoh and his legions.

For the people who tried to ethicize this issue let me quickly remind that this is not an ethnic issue. The single most powerful word I found in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the word ‘we’, where in the opening preamble the constitution proclaims; ‘We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria having firmly and solemnly resolve, to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God…’

Nigeria therefore is not a project of any single individual, religion or tribe but a project that belongs to all of us.

For Nigeria to thrive we the people must play our individual and collective roles though our tribes and tongues may differ. Mobilizing to resist EFCC’s impunity and the corporate tyranny of corporations from riding roughshod against the rule of law is a sacred obligation that demands our unity as a people.

So many things are indeed broken about us. It’s not just our politics and our economy that is broken, our trust and relationships are broken. If the Pharaoh loves this country as much as I do, he should be persuaded to stop breeding disgruntled and unhappy citizens. He should fix our broken trust and relationshipsand prove to the world that the Blackmanindeed is not stupid.

I listened with broken heart as the Innosons shared their ordeals in the hands of EFCC operatives; how their 4 month old baby was tear-gased; how the family matriarch was physically assaulted and how Innoson himself was taken captive in his underpants.

Make no mistake, the only reason Innoson was treated like a common criminal and the wife slapped is because he is Hebrew. But do not fret, for he that curses us will be cursed; he that strike us will be stricken and he that blesses us shall be blessed.

Nigeria is a dangerous place to live, not because of Pharaoh and his men or corporate tyrants, but because of people who are silent when the whip is laid on the back of the other person.

When Pharaoh’s men used FCDA to destroy my African Town Resort and shared the plots of land among themselves as they would do the spoils of war, we didn’t speak; when they destroyed Ibeto cement to protect their own monopoly, we didn’t speak; then they came after The Sun newspaper and Slok Group oil and gas assets, we still didn’t speak; then they caused Nnamdi Kanu to disappear without trace, we didn’t speak; then they came after Capital Oil, still we didn’t speak; then they came against Intels Logistics because Atiku who is one of their own spoke of justice for all and we didn’t speak; now they came for Innoson Motors and we are considering whether to speak or not . Soon they will come for you and there will be no one to speak out.

I recall warning us at the height of my own physical persecution to be vigilant because Pharaoh and his men are on rampage and their target is to destroy every child that speaks the truth.

What will Magu say is the reason for EFCC’s action against Innoson especially given that the entire hullabaloo is at the instance of a party who is in court with him? What is wrong in allowing the parties to exhaust their already progressing court processes?

For starters, Innoson’s crime wasn’t that he received money from Dasuki or PDP; his crime wasn’t that he benefited from preferential dollar allocation; his crime is that he is a Nigerian operating a Current Account with GTBank from whom he obtained, and repaid in full a loan of N1.3billion.He later discovered that between March 2004 to Dec 2011 GTB literally stole Seven hundred and Eighty-Six Million, Two Hundred and Five Thousand, Nine Hundred and Fifty-Five Naira, Ninety Nine kobo from his account, whereas GTBank admitted to having stolen Five Hundred and Fifty-Nine Million, three Hundred and Seventy-Two naira, Nine kobo only.

Innoson accepted to be paid back the said N559.3million which the bank admitted with a 22% interest rate because he was repaying his entire loan with the Bank at 22% interest rate.

Consequently, in 2012, Innoson sued GTBank at Federal High Court Awka whereby the court delivered judgment in favor of Innoson in excess of N4.7billion against GTBank to be paid at 22 % interest on the judgment debt.

In 2013, GTBank appealed against the judgment to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal in a considered ruling ordered GTBank to pay the Judgment debt of N6billion inclusive of the accrued interest. At this material time the case is alive at the Supreme Court.

In another case between Innoson /GTBank/Nigerian Custom Service, Innoson challenged the Nigerian Customs Service for illegally auctioning his properties.

On July 29 ,2011, in a Garnishee Order Absolute , the Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan ordered GTBank to Pay Innoson N2,048,737,443,67 from Nigerian Customs account in GTBank. GTBank on February 6, 2015 appealed this judgment, but the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court and ordered GTBank to pay the judgment debt.

GTBank again appealed to the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeal’s decision and lost. Rather than obey the Supreme Court judgment, GTBbank instead filed a petition to the police against Innoson alleging forgery which led to the suit No: FHC /L/565C/2015 by the Police. The Police upon finding out it has been misled withdrew the charges.

This is no more an Innoson battle. It’s the battle of Zachariah which we the people must fight to defeat corporate tyranny and official impunity. A word is enough for the wise. I rest my case.

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